


With the Dark

by rosefox



Category: She-Ra: Princess Of Power
Genre: Baby-sitter, Benevolent Ghosts, Caretaking, Child Neglect, Childhood, Dark, Gen, Kid Fic, Magic, No Sex, Pre-Canon, Ratings: G, Shadows - Freeform, Trick or Treat: Treat, Witchcraft, Witches, child characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-07-24 12:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16175174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosefox/pseuds/rosefox
Summary: Adora is eight years old and has never heard the wordfriend. Even if she had, who would be her friend? There aren’t a lot of children in the Fright Zone. She hasn’t explored the whole place, so she can’t be sure there aren’t any at all. But she’s never seen one, other than herself.However, she is never alone.





	With the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rosencrantz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosencrantz/gifts).



Adora is eight years old and has never heard the word _friend_. Even if she had, who would be her friend? There aren’t a lot of children in the Fright Zone. She hasn’t explored the whole place, so she can’t be sure there aren’t any at all. But she’s never seen one, other than herself.

However, she is never alone. Whenever she tilts her head, there's a flicker in her vision. Sometimes, when she wants to go through a door, a wisp of shadow bars her way. And if she turns at just the right moment or catches a reflection in a shiny piece of equipment, she sees the specter in its entirety, a hovering cloud of darkness that's nearly invisible against the black metal of the walls. It is one of Shadow Weaver's shadows, and it has been her constant companion for as long as she can remember.

Adora has never heard the word _babysitter_. That word belongs to people who see the sunlight, people for whom there is such a thing as community. She understands _guard_ and _warden_ and _medic_ : a guard keeps you out of places where you're not supposed to go and a warden keeps you in places where you're supposed to be and a medic helps you when you're hurt. The shadow does all of those things. But it also does something that she has no language for. 

Adora has never heard the word _care_. Hordak is incapable of caring about anyone but himself, and Shadow Weaver turned her back on love in her quest for power. But as Adora wanders through the endless corridors of the Fright Zone, Shadow Weaver's shadow follows her more closely than it needs to. It steers her toward places that have things she wants to do, places that have a little warmth in them, like the kitchen and the stables. When she is abandoned for hours in a locked room because her presence would be inconvenient, it slips out the vent and returns with a scrap of paper to fold into clever shapes, or a friendly mouse that runs ticklishly up her arm and makes her laugh. And when she stumbles too close to something hot or sharp, the shadow wraps around her and keeps her safe.

Adora mostly likes her lessons with Hordak. He teaches her exciting things like how to rewire a console and fire a blaster and give commands that will be obeyed. She mostly likes her lessons with Shadow Weaver—or at least she thinks she does, though she can never remember afterward what they talked about or did. But she likes it best of all when the lessons are done, and a servant has brought her food and taken her dishes, and Shadow Weaver says "Run along now" in a tone that implies she wouldn't be bothered if Adora fell into one of the furnaces, and her time is her own. 

She steps out the door and waits, and a moment later she feels an eddy of cool air behind her. Her shadow is there. Of course it's Shadow Weaver's shadow, not hers at all. In the gloomy Fright Zone, there is only indirect lighting, and Adora has never cast her own shadow. But it feels like it belongs to her, somehow. Or like she belongs to the shadow. Or like they belong together.

Adora is eight years old and has never heard the word _fun_. But with her shadow hovering patiently just behind her, she's ready to figure it out for herself.

"Come on," she says unnecessarily, and she launches herself into the darkness, knowing her shadow will catch her if she falls.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to angelsaves for brainstorming and Arithanas for the beta!
> 
> [Recommended soundtrack.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz_Sq0av_j4)


End file.
